Bishop John of the BCC Eparchy of Parma, Ohio is to be commended for his life long efforts to purge his church of false Latinizations and restore a proper eastern praxis. The video links are wonderful and show a seldom seen service for most of us - be we Orthodox or Eastern Catholic. These nuns were originally professed in an Eastern-rite Order but over the years sought a proper foundation in Eastern Monasticism. To that end they spent a lengthy period of time in the company of the OCA nuns at Otego, NY and Mother Raphaella. (Several of them were in attendance at the OCA jubilee for that Monastery last September in Binghamton, NY.)

After three centuries of efforts to westernize the Ruthenian Greek Catholics in both Europe and America, there are finally bishops like Bishop John in Parma or Bishop Milan in Muchachevo, Ukraine who are willing to assert their lawful prerogatives under Roman canon law as promised in the lamented Unions of the 16th and 17th centuries. The issue of mandatory celibacy is coming to a head - there is a conference in Rome next week on the subject sponsored by the UGCC of Canada and Australia with presentations by several Orthodox theologians who will be going there to say the truth - how did and how can Rome ever expect the Orthodox to take them seriously and with trust when they have historically treated their own loyal Greek Catholics, at least until relatively recent years, in a second class status through their 'Congregation for the Eastern Rites' headed as always by an Italian cardinal and with a lack of sensitivity - sort of Rome's version of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in American terms.

Anyway, many years to the newly tonsured monastics and may the efforts of the good Bishops bear fruit in perhaps paving a way back to the Orthodox Church for more Greek Catholics in the years to come or at least in allowing us to continue to treat each other with Christian love and kindness - unlike the way things were when he and I both were young.